Formal and informal English

A workshop brought to you by

CQU
Communications Learning Centre
 To tune in
 Imagine writing a business letter in your first
language. What are some of the words you
would use? Formal or informal?
 Imagine talking to a friend over the phone in
your first language. Would you use formal or
very informal language?
 What would happen if you swapped the
types of language used?
 Objectives of the session
1.Consider the similarities and differences
between formal and informal English
2.Consider specific scenarios related to the
two types of English
3.Practise classifying words into the two
categories
 1.Similarities between formal and
informal English
 Convey a message
 Have a reader ( listener) in mind
 Important to know which part of speech the
word belongs to ( e.g. noun or verb)
 Not letting your grammar slip
 Both categories can be found in an
advanced learners’ dictionary
 Differences
a) Formal English
 is more common in writing than speaking
 uses more passive voice (e.g. the matter will
be discussed )
 often uses abstract nouns formed from
verbs (e.g. consider - consideration)
 does not use the same word twice in a
sentence
 b) Informal English
Certain types of language are often
informal:
 phrasal verbs ( e.g. brought up)
 idioms (e.g. to beat about the bush)
 verb get (e.g. He got a letter last week)
 contractions ( e.g. it doesn’t; it didn’t)
 slang ( e.g. bloke= man)
 2. Scenarios
Formal Informal
 Public notices  Spoken English
 Police statements  Most e-mails
 Job applications  Song lyrics
 Legal documents  Jokes
 Academic environment  Academic environment
(e.g. reports, essays, ( face-to-face and
debates) online conversations
with course instructors)
 3. Practise classifying the words
Which ones are informal?
Try to replace them
 purchase  buy
 bring  acknowledge
 commence  wrong
 get  because of
 bad  I know that
 ask  indicate
 request  often
 Use a dictionary to find out if these
words are formal or informal
 Drivers are not permitted to drink.
 What do you reckon?
 The meeting will resume at 3 p.m.
 Approximately 60% of the population
watch TV in Australia.
 You can e-mail the question to me. I don’t
know the answer off-hand.
 Find a synonym for each of these
words
 commence
 creation
 excessive What do they mean?
 manner Try to make sentences
 previous
 consistent
 scepticism
 Try to paraphrase these sentences:

 Scientists today tell us that the universe is

dynamic and interconnected.

 Competing theories need to be contrasted to

assess unique contributions and
shortcomings.